Company would make fish-counting device in Dairy Queen plaza
By Michael S. Hoey
correspondent
The Town of Delavan is considering utilizing a state-funded community development block grant to help a new business get started in the township.
The business, Pooka LLC, would manufacture a new fish-counting device that its owner says could benefit the town in many ways.
Administrator John Olson explained the grant program to the board and the public at a public hearing Jan. 19. He said it is designed to fund new business ventures like Pooka LLC. The grant would be for $100,000 over three years at an interest rate of 1 percent. Olson said the town would use the grant model that allows the town to consider requests on a case-by-case basis. A committee will be established to decide if the business or any other business that applies get the funding. The $100,000 would be dispersed by the state to the township to allocate to the business.
Olson said the town attorney drafted personal guarantees for prospective business owners Kim O’Keefe and Gary Duszynski to sign to protect the town in case the business defaults, and no funds will be released until those signatures have been secured. The state would then have 60 days to review the application. If approved, the town would hold another public hearing before deciding if it should proceed with allocating the funds, so the town will have the opportunity to deny the funding if it wants to.
O’Keefe outlined the plans for the business he and Duszynski want to locate in the Dairy Queen plaza. O’Keefe said the device that would be manufactured there would be a patented fish-counting device for pan fishing. He said only one other device remotely like his is on the market. The product would be sold to high-end fishing boat manufacturers at first, and the market could be expanded later. O’Keefe said the devices have patented technology that will provide and ensure a firm competitive advantage in the marketplace.
O’Keefe said the new business would make Vision Plastic of Delavan its main supplier and employ up to 16 people in the first three years.
“The focus of this grant is to make these jobs available to low- to moderate-income people with different socio-economic backgrounds,” O’Keefe said.
The jobs, he said, would include assembly, packaging, and shipping with the potential for a shipping manager. He said pay would be in the $10 per hour range.
“This is not new to Kim,” Board President Ryan Simons said. “He has been successful at creating jobs in the community and he wants to do it again.”
O’Keefe started O’Keefe International Corp. in the Town of Delavan in 1994 and later renamed it China Motors and Components Inc. The company began doing business as P-Tech USA and moved to the City of Delavan in 2012. O’Keefe said the business is a manufactures and delivers electric motors, blowers and linear actuators. He said the new business is similar except with different products.
O’Keefe said he had the opportunity to manufacture the product in China but chose to “do it the right way” by keeping its production in America.
Resident Jim Wolfgram asked if the business would be penalized if it does not employ Town of Delavan residents. Olson said it would not. Simons said even if the 16 employees are not residents of the town, they would work here and possibly patronize town businesses on their way to or from work.
Supervisor Barb Militello said she is not comfortable with the proposal.
“I don’t know that we should be going into the loan business,” she said. “We don’t have an industrial park, and we are not pushing for one.”
Militello said she thinks Olson has better things to find grants for like the lake and the park. She said O’Keefe and Duszynski could take other avenues, and she questioned if applying for the grant would benefit the entire town.
Supervisor Chris Marsicano said he is not against the idea but wants to be absolutely sure the board is making the right decision. He also said he is uncomfortable with the town becoming a loan agent and the possibility, however small, that the town could be “on the hook” for $100,000 if the business defaults. Marsicano also questioned if it would benefit the entire town.
“It is our job to represent the whole town,” he said.
Marsicano also said he would like the entire board to vote on the issue. Supervisor Larry Malsch was absent.
Supervisor Kim Jedlicka said the grant would bring more manufacturing to the town and create jobs, the personal financial statements of O’Keefe and Duszynski were secure, and she is comfortable with the guarantee the town attorney had drafted. She said she is a little uncomfortable with the town getting involved in a loan, but it is a federal program that would simply be funneling the money through the town, in her opinion.
Simons said Olson’s time spent on the grant will not prevent him from looking at other possibilities and he said he thinks the plan will benefit the entire town and the Highway 50 business corridor. He said at least seven stores are vacant along that route that look blighted.
“I am in favor of anything that we can do to help fill those spots when there is very little risk to the town itself,” he said.
Simons said 16 jobs at $10 an hour would create $320,000 in wages alone.
“We want to do things that will help the town grow and bring in tax revenue,” Simons said. “It is a pretty straight-forward economic development opportunity.”
Simons said the town is lucky it has someone with proven success at growing a business and creating jobs interested in bringing a business to the township.
“This will put us in a nice progressive stance to attract people to the Town of Delavan,” he said.
Simons said the resolution authorizing the town to apply for the grant simply allows the process to move forward. The town will still have future opportunities to discuss the issue and hold a public hearing to gain public input. The vote ended up passing unanimously. The board then also approved establishing a citizen participation plan that is required as part of the grant process.
Park building
Marsicano announced the park building committee will meet for the first time at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 25 to begin discussing the needs for a new park building at Community Park. The meeting was open to the public.
